MFA Interaction Design Curriculum
In the MFA Interaction Design program, students work both individually and collaboratively on the practical application of the concepts and methods that the program advances. Over the course of study, students will produce a wide range of concepts—from low-fidelity sketches to high-fidelity prototypes and applications—with the same degree of rigor.
The diversity of the curriculum is complemented by individual and collaborative spaces that are intended to simulate a working design studio. In addition, our faculty comprises top practitioners in the field, bringing rich and varied backgrounds and real-world experience.
General Requirements
- Successful completion of 60 credits, including all required courses and the thesis project. Documentation of all thesis projects must be on file in the MFA Interaction Design Department to be eligible for degree conferral.
- A matriculation of two academic years. Students must complete their degree within four years, unless given an official extension by the provost.
- Interaction Design grades on a pass/fail system. Students are required to remain in good academic standing.
Note: Departmental requirements are subject to change by the department.
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First Year Requirements
First-Year Course Requirements
Fall Semester
IXG-5030 Histories of Design
IXG-5080 Research Methods
IXG-5190 Service Design
IXG-5240 Content Strategy
IXG-5380 Fundamentals of Physical Computing
IXG-5470 Hello World: The Logic of Interaction
Spring Semester
IXG-5510 Smart Objects
IXG-5525 Framing User Experiences
IXG-5712 Inclusive Design
IXG-5728 Special Topics in Interaction Design I
IXG-5741 Business Thinking
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Second Year Requirements
Second-Year Course Requirements
Fall Semester
IXG-5712 Inclusive Design
IXG-6030 Thesis Development
IXG-6181 Designing for Digital Accessibility
IXG-6185 Spatial Computing
IXG-6190 Design for Cities
Spring Semester
IXG-6210 Leadership and Ethics
IXG-6260 Special Topics in Interaction Design II
IXG-6340 Thesis Writing and Professional Practices
IXG-6390 Narrative and Interactivity
IXG-6900 Thesis Presentation
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General Course Listing
General Course Listing
The courses that follow reflect the offerings for the 2024-2025 academic year. For additional course details please visit the Registrar page and click on the Graduate Course Listing.
IXG-5030
Histories of Design
Design evolves through the acceptance and rejection of historical practices. This course focuses on a review of critical movements in design from the second half of the 20th century to the present. We will consider how much of the craft designers have historically valued is essential for what we do today. Students will use historical insights and case studies to evaluate what and who defines “good” design. With a critical lens, the course will explore why certain products, companies and designers have risen triumphant over others. Students will visit design centers across New York City to gather inspiration and resources for research, exploration, and experimentation.
IXG-5080
Research Methods
Fall semester: 3 credits
People-centered design begins, by definition, with an understanding of people. In this course, students will learn how to model interactions by conducting qualitative and quantitative research into people’s behaviors, attitudes and expectations. By exploring diary studies, landscape analyses, usability testing, survey design and other research methods, students will learn how to effectively engage people’s feedback at every design stage. We will place a particular emphasis on designing ethical research studies that engage people and communities in ways that are respectful and reciprocal.
IXG-5190
Service Design
Fall semester: 3 credits
Service design is about crafting the biggest picture — the total context, conditions and cultures in which people engage in digital and physical experiences. In designing services, our work may focus on individuals in the experiences they encounter, or businesses in the structures they build to support service delivery, or may have a more significant impact beyond the confines of one organization. Designers need to be equipped with tools and approaches that work best in this service-oriented world. Students will acquire a rich understanding of service design—what it is, when and where it is applicable, how to practice it and why it is a valuable approach—and will gain experience using service design tools to identify opportunities, define and frame problem spaces, develop innovative directions, and deliver and communicate solutions.
IXG-5240
Content Strategy
Fall semester: 1.5 credits
Writing is part of every design project—from jotting down notes and questions to summarizing research, instructing users, and presenting work in proposals and marketing. Content Strategy examines the writing process holistically. We explore what it means to be the writer on a design project, provide hands-on experiences with critical tools for UX writers, practice our writing and editing skills, and learn how to use language as a strategic tool in the design process. This course provides a foundational metaphor, key context and practical tools for using words and writing to design the conversational layer of digital experiences as part of apps, interactive forms and informational websites.
IXG-5380
Fundamentals of Physical Computing
Fall semester: 3 credits
Take a deep dive into a practical, hands-on exploration of physically interactive technology. Students will examine how to interface objects and installations with the viewer’s body and ambient stimuli, such as motion, light, sound and intangible data. Starting with the basics of the open-source Arduino platform, the class will move through electrical theory, circuit design, microcontroller programming and sensors, as well as complex outputs, including motors, video and intercommunication between objects.
IXG-5470
Hello World: The Logic of Interaction
Fall semester: 3 credits
Hello World is traditionally the very first program people write when they are new to a programming language. It’s used to test programming syntax, implementation and sanity. The goal of this course is to provide students with a primer into understanding the world of computer hardware, software and designing with code. Students develop the tools they need to read and understand source code, critically think about software applications and write their very own programs. They start with a foundation in programming and build applications of increasing complexity as the course progresses. By the end of the semester, students will have the skills to speak the language of (almost) any machine using fundamentals from Python, JavaScript and C.
IXG-5510
Smart Objects
Spring semester: 3 credits
The ubiquity of embedded computing has redefined the role of form in material culture, leading to the creation of artifacts that communicate well beyond their static physical presence—creating ongoing dialogues with both people and each other. This course will explore the rich relationship among people, objects and information through a combination of physical and digital design methods. Beginning with an examination of case studies, students will gain a sense of the breadth of product design practice as it applies to smart objects. Through a combination of lectures and hands-on studio exercises, students will investigate all aspects of smart object design, including expressive behaviors (light, sound and movement), interaction systems, ergonomics, data networks and contexts of use. The course will culminate in a final project that considers all aspects of smart object design within the context of a larger theme.
IXG-5525
Framing User Experiences
Spring semester: 3 credits
Products are not simply products; they live within complex business and technological ecosystems. To fully understand the user experience, designers must be highly flexible communicators, facilitators, mediators and thinkers. In this course, students explore concepts fundamental to the user experience (UX); how to frame design problems through the synthesis of research and various project inputs; problem-solving through mapping, sketching and wireframing; and problem sharing through constructing narratives of the work. Whether designing a food delivery app or an autonomous vehicle, design is as much about framing user experiences as it is about creating new artifacts. This course focuses on the relationships between objects and their contexts, how to identify human behaviors and needs, and how those behaviors and needs converge to create user experiences.
IXG-5712
Inclusive Design
Fall or spring semester: 3 credits
To build a more equitable world, designing for inclusion is essential. We will delve into the process of inclusive design by building fluency in its foundational concepts, such as identity and positionality, co-design and intersectionality. Throughout the course, we will take time to reflect on our own individualities and the mental and physical states that accompany them, while expanding our capacity to engage in deep listening and observation. We will examine prevailing case studies of inclusive design, formulate community-centered methods in research, engage in-depth reflections and adapt inclusion frameworks that activate our life-long inclusive design journeys.
IXG-5728
Special Topics in Interaction Design I
Spring semester: 3 credits
To remain in line with industry trends, we tackle current and emergent technologies and immerse ourselves in their accompanying tools, theories and practices. Examples of previous and potential course themes include ethical practices in generative AI; deceptive design and shadow data; voice and conversation design; community-centered and civic design; augmented and virtual realities; and trauma-informed design. The course is led by industry experts and includes theoretical explorations, studio work and site visits.
IXG-5741
Business Thinking
Spring semester: 3 credits
The worlds of business and design are intertwined as companies seek to leverage design to create innovative products, services and experiences. Together, we will explore design-driven business models, systems-based constraints and opportunities for innovation. Through legal, ethical and moral lenses we will discuss and analyze the implications of “doing” business as an interaction designer while exploring possibilities through entrepreneurship.
IXG-6030
Thesis Development
Fall semester: 6 credits
Design problems emerge from fundamental human needs—the needs of individuals, communities, and a multitude of contexts and cultures. Guided by industry leaders, technical advisors and a community of peers, this course is a platform to develop a rigorously researched and implemented body of original and meaningful investigations. This course creates a strong foundation of intellectual and pragmatic frameworks to shape the direction of the thesis project in the final semester.
IXG-6181
Designing for Digital Accessibility
Fall semester: 1.5 credits
Creating delightful and user-centered interactions for everyone must start with a foundation in digital accessibility. Students will explore the fundamentals of accessible design—from WCAG criteria to readability. Students gain direct experience with assistive technology, while participating in group projects to reimagine existing technology through an accessible lens.
IXG-6185
Spatial Computing
Fall semester: 1.5 credits
The ubiquity of our personal data, facial recognition and AI are impacting our everyday lives in unprecedented ways. Recent local and global situations highlight the need for more ethically minded thinking about the future implications of technologies we help to deploy. This course investigates designers’ responsibility to think about the potentials of these technologies, and to explore their potential social consequences. How might designers create new methods that accelerate our learning of the ethical implications of the technologies we work with? We introduce a variety of tools to explore the unintended consequences and social frictions of emerging technologies. Students will use their design skills to devise visual and experiential methods that foster critical thinking about new technologies and how they might come to life in our world.
IXG-6190
Design in Cities
Fall semester: 3 credits
Open space for people to gather and play, streets that are safe and comfortable from pedestrians of all abilities, protected lanes for cycling, benches for resting, people watching and having conversations, fresh air and sunlight—these are public amenities that are vital to the health of people, communities and cities. This course will explore what public life is, why it matters to our individual and collective well-being, and how to use qualitative and quantitative metrics to measure and monitor the health of our public spaces. Students will engage in site-specific studies of multiple types of public spaces around New York City that include pedestrianized streets, public transit stations and parks, each of which incorporate physical design with digital or data-driven interactions. Students will work in teams to focus on one public space in New York City to perform detailed mappings, site analyses, physical prototyping and temporary design interventions to inform future, permanent design schemes at an urban scale.
IXG-6210
Leadership and Ethics
Spring semester: 3 credits
Creative business practices, ethical standards and effective networking are the cornerstones of this course. Through studio tours, guest lectures, case studies and small group activities, students will observe and critique examples of successful, flawed and failed practices. Upon completion of this course, students will be equipped to describe and cite examples of creative business practices, ethical standards and effective networking in the business of design management.
IXG-6260
Special Topics in Interaction Design II
Spring semester: 3 credits
To remain in line with industry trends, we tackle current and emergent technologies and immerse ourselves in accompanying tools, theories and practices. Examples of previous and potential course themes are ethics and generative AI; deceptive design and shadow data; voice and conversation design; community-centered and civic design; augmented and virtual realities; and trauma-informed design. The course is led by industry experts and includes theoretical explorations, studio work and site visits.
IXG-6340
Thesis Writing and Professional Practices
Spring semester: 1.5 credits (7 weeks, begins 1/13)
Formalizing and contextualizing thesis project outcomes in writing helps to position work within broader conversations in art and design communities, and beyond. Together, we will craft polished works of writing for portfolios, thesis project websites, process books, editorial pieces and academic articles. Additionally, we will explore ways in which to reach appropriate professional communities with our works.
IXG-6390
Narrative and Interactivity
Spring semester: 1.5 credits
While many of us rely on new tools, methods and processes to design interactions, we often overlook one of the oldest, most effective tools—a compelling story. Whether presenting a thesis concept or pitching a new product idea, students need the capacity to tell great stories. In this course students examine the use of storytelling to craft and share stories in written, verbal and visual context so that their ideas resonate with a range of diverse audiences.
IXG-6900
Thesis Presentation
Spring semester: 6 credits
An interaction design project comes to life when the intended audience interacts with a product, service, or experience. In Thesis Presentation, students will refine a body of work to include proof of concept, depth of research and application, artifacts, and real-world interactions. Students will define and implement a public engagement strategy to connect with the communities they designed with and for. A team of faculty, technical advisors and mentors will guide the process and presentation outcomes to be thoughtful and impactful.
New York, NY 10011
